America is ruining Soccer

America is ruining soccer by failing to understand the sheer beauty of the game. Soccer is a game of tactics and hard work both individually and as a team. It is a game where a team is only as good as its weakest link but where true superstars can shine.

Stephen H. Webb in his column in the Wall Street Journal demonstrates this failure to appreciate soccer. First, he finds something fundamentally wrong with the fact that people only kick the ball or use their heads in soccer. In fact, hands are quite important in the game. You use your hand to push a defender as you try to charge by him. But in any case, there are more spectacular things you can do with your feet than your hands. Try a 30-yard banana kick that goes over a defensive wall of players and fools the goalkeeper. You can also deke a defender and make them look amazingly foolish. Both are a rush I can't even explain.

Can't do those with your hands!

Second, Webb argues that kids aren't broken down by soccer. That it is egalitarian and that failure is hard to spot. Maybe for a little while. But if you take soccer seriously, you will be easily spotted as the weakest link. The coach will yell at you and bench you. If that is not happening, then kids shouldn't play soccer at a young age when their parents can intervene on their behalf or parents shouldn't be allowed to intervene at all.

I know a father who has a kid in an Ajax Amsterdam development team. He is 11 and they mould him like a little soldier. At any age, this kid can be sent home packing. Perhaps the game isn't broken Professor Webb. America just lacks the boot camps that are European pro clubs.

Third, Webb argues that the better you get in soccer, the less you score. Tell that to Liverpool FC who sparked 14 goals in a recent three-game span! But yes, there are many games that end low scoring because the defence, goalkeepers and midfield of both teams are just that good. But those are often the best games to watch. Such games still provide much action in the form of opportunities and near opportunities. It symbolizes a heavyweight fight that ends in a draw. Each team desperately looking for ways to punch holes in the defensive wall of the other. Soccer is often a war that stretches even to the stands.

Yes, goals are nice. But soccer isn't a sport meant for ESPN Sportscenter. It's not a game where you can just find out the score after the fact. You need to watch a game and you gain appreciation from understanding how a result became 0-0 and not simply that it did.

Webb also mocks the penalty shootout since it's so easy to score. What the shootout tests are the nerves of the teams' shooters. Often the player who misses is the one who gets nervous when he gets up there. Penalty shootouts are dramatic to watch because you never know when a miss will happen but you know that there will be a miss. Some people argue there are better ways to decide a game. But after 2 hours of play, there is not much separating the teams. That is the equivalent of a completed triple overtime in hockey or roughly six overtimes in basketball. Soccer is a thinking man's game played by brutes. The fouls can be nasty sometimes with very nasty injuries. The tactical aspect of the game is too wide to fit in a blog post. It's not just about running around. Often the team that wins is the one that does the least running but simply has the right players at the right positions and masters ball control. Position, like in battle, is huge in soccer.

It's sad that Prof. Webb calls it a foreign invasion as if Americans cannot appreciate a sport enjoyed around the world. I believe they can and if they took soccer more seriously, they might come to like it after all.